Poll: Booker Up 35 With a Month to Go | #NJSEN

With a month to go in New Jersey’s Senate special election, Newark Mayor Cory Booker has pulled out to a 35-point lead, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Wednesday.

Booker took 64 percent, with 29 percent supporting Republican Steve Lonegan and 6 percent undecided. The special to replace the late Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., will be held Oct. 16.

Lonegan is hoping for a boost on Friday when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will endorse him at an afternoon rally in Clark, N.J. But the state’s political dynamics and Booker’s personal popularity makes a Republican win here difficult.

“Booker appears to be building an insurmountable lead,” Rutgers-Eagleton Poll director David Redlawsk said. “While special elections are notoriously hard to predict, given uncertainties about turnout, Booker’s name recognition, celebrity-type status and stances on issues that align more with New Jersey’s ‘blue’ political climate seem to be driving momentum toward him and away from Lonegan.”

The poll of 462 likely voters was conducted Sept. 3-9. It had a 4.5-point margin of error.